Monday, July 10, 2017

Slice and Dice: Fun with Bits and Pieces! By Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink

For
the last several years, my friend Debbie and I have been slicing and dicing
each other’s cards, postcards, and envelopes! No. Not all of them. Some of what
we make for each other are deemed ‘keepers’ – cards that head straight for a
bulletin board or album. But others get revised, sometimes more than once.
We’re ruthless. We tear, we cut, we disassemble, mix, match, add, subtract, and
combine.

It
makes me grin just to think about it. No matter how hard I try to envision what
she might do, I’m always surprised. And I love hearing what she thinks about
what I’ve come up with!

My tag
and two Artist Trading Cards came from five different cards of hers. Three of
them included elements from several previous cards, an envelope and postcard
I’d sent her, as well as a photo of flowers she printed from a digital image
I’d emailed from my vacation.

A
bonus from this exchange: We learn from and influence each other. For example,
her use of ribbon and twine has totally changed how I use these soft, linear
elements. And we’ve each developed the habit of using as little adhesive as
possible to make it easier to pull things apart.

FROM
THE STORE

If
you’ve been following this blog, you’ll recognize the face on my ATCs as a
PaperArtsy stamp by Lynne Perrella. The eye and the word ‘Wisdom’ are from
Patti Euler’s own Her Majesty’s stamp line, exclusive to The Queen’s Ink. The
words ‘my real friend’ were cut from a RubberMoon stamp that says ‘I know who
my real friends are,’ the gloved hand is from RubberMoon as well.

The
embossed element at the top of the tag is Ruby Gemstone Shimmer Sheetz, lightly
sanded to reveal the silver core.

EVERYTHING
ELSE

There
are pieces from gel prints Debbie made, scraps from a couple of my Magic Stamp
papers, a tiny photo, and a host of bits and pieces from our extensive
collections of ‘Good Stuff’…

YOUR
TURN

1.
Partner with a friend who likes the idea of slicing and dicing. Not all people
would find this acceptable and it’s very important to set up the parameters
before you start!

2.
Send at least two cards to get things rolling. Bonus points if they’re sent in
a decorated envelope that can be torn and cut into pieces.

3.
Turn the cards into other cards, or switch to Artist Trading Cards, postcards,
tags, and collages.

4. Mail
your creations back and forth. Stop whenever you don’t see something new to
add, remove, alter a little, or alter a lot!

5. Photograph
each ‘before’ and ‘after’ if you want to have documentation of where things
began and how they looked when revised. Or not!

SUPPLIES

Head
to The Queen’s Ink or shop at the web store for the rubber stamps shown in
these projects, as well as for substrates, inks, gel plates, adhesives, papers,
gems, ribbon and other collage materials.

2 comments:

I do a similar thing (though not as advanced as you) with cards I receive. I take it apart if I can - generally I can't - and make new cards or ATCs out of the card I received. Then I generally I donate those cards. Sometimes use them myself to send out to other people if I need a card and haven't had time to make a card from scratch.With the ATCs, I add stuff to them then send them out inside the cards I send out.